Obama Continues Aid to|Palestinian Authority

WASHINGTON (CN) – President Obama has suspended, for six months, provisions in the Department of Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriation Act that prohibit aid to the Palestinian Authority.

As part of the suspension, Obama certified that no assistance would be provided to pay the salaries of Authority personnel in the Gaza or for assistance to Hamas or any Hamas-controlled government agency, or the Palestine Liberation Organization. Like former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush who also suspended the prohibition on aid to the Palestinian Authority every six months, Obama declared that continuing financial assistance to the Authority is in the national security interests of the United States.